


After the Pink

by Burgie



Category: Star Stable Online
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-30
Updated: 2018-03-30
Packaged: 2019-04-14 23:36:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14147100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: Liv celebrates her birthday with a quiet birthday hack with her faithful companion. Liv belongs to ssoliv on tumblr.





	After the Pink

Liv smiled as she walked into the cobblestone stableyard of Jorvik Stables, the most famous stables in Jorvik. It had been a while since Liv had visited this place, but it hadn’t changed much- there were still the same horses here, still the same stable girl and stable boy. So much had changed, Liv had just been in another dimension entirely, and yet, Jorvik Stables remained the same. Even her horse looked the same, his dapple grey coat gleaming in the sunshine as he ate from one of the food troughs in the paddock. His tail swished, and his ears pricked at the sound of her approach.

“Hey, boy,” said Liv, giving her horse a smile as she scratched between his ears. Wolfcrush nickered, hay falling from his mouth as he looked up at her. Liv’s smile came so naturally when she was around him.

“Hi, Liv,” said Stein, the stable boy struggling with a large bale of hay that he was currently in the process of hefting into a wheelbarrow. “Happy birthday!”

“Oh, you remembered,” said Liv, giving him a smile. It wasn’t the first birthday greeting she’d received that day, nor would it be the last, probably. Jorvik may be a big place, but she’d helped out the people of it so much that she’d grown quite close with many of them. They all remembered her name and what her horses favoured in terms of treats, and some even went so far as to make a note of her birthday in their phone.

“Yeah, Johanna made you cake,” said Stein. “You can have a piece if you want.”

“I guess I might take some with me,” said Johanna, clipping a leadrope to Crush’s halter. “I’m going for a hack with my most faithful companion, here.” Crush tossed his head a little at the praise, and Liv giggled, knowing now that he definitely understood every word she said.

“Sounds like a good way to spend the day to me,” said Stein. “Nothing beats a quiet hack with just yourself and your horse.” He sighed wistfully, leaning on a pitchfork.

“Yeah, I bet it does to you,” said Liv with a laugh. “It’s better than work.”

“Ugh, anything is better than work,” said Stein, wrinkling his nose. “I love it here, working with all the prestige and the wonderful horses that have passed through these gates, but man, hard work sucks.”

“Sucks to be you,” said Liv, poking her tongue out at him, and she took Crush into the stable to get him ready for their ride.

Once Crush was tacked up and ready to go, Liv decided to pay a visit to Johanna, who was currently busy mending a bridle that had seen better days.

“Hey, Johanna, Stein said you had cake for me?” asked Liv, grinning.

“Oh, that boy,” said Johanna with a roll of her eyes. “It was meant to be a surprise, but yes, I baked a cake for you. It’s only proper to have cake for your birthday, after all. I would’ve gotten you something else, but we’re flat out here at the stable lately.”

“I imagine you would be, with one set of hands missing,” said Liv. “But he’ll be back someday. I have a good feeling about it.”

“I hope your feeling proves true,” said Johanna, stepping away from her work and wiping her hands on a rag. “I guess we can break for cake now.”

“I was actually going to take a piece with me, if that’s alright,” said Liv. She gestured to Crush, who looked more than ready to go. “I’m going on a birthday hack.”

“Of course you can, that sounds lovely,” said Johanna. “I’d join you if I wasn’t so busy.”

“But hey, if there’s still some left when I get back, I might join you guys for a bite,” said Liv.

“Sounds like a plan,” said Johanna. “Have a nice hack.”

“I will,” said Liv, smiling, and made one last stop at the stable house where her cake was before she snagged a piece of cake and returned with it in a container.

With the cake acquired, Liv set off from the stables, riding Crush at a gentle trot. She wasn’t sure where she’d go, maybe the Forgotten Fields, maybe the Eastern Slopes, maybe even just through Greendale, an old favourite. But she decided to, for once, let Crush go where he pleased. She loosened the reins, trusting him, but she still remained alert, just in case something unexpected should happen.

Just a few short months ago, Liv had entered the strange world of Pandoria. She’d thought that it was just a myth. It had to be, magic wasn’t real. But the portal had certainly been real. And so had that pink land, and the wonder, and the fear, and Darko. And Anne. So she was still alive, if in a very bad place.

But stranger still had been the changes that Crush had undergone. And not just physical, either, though the phantom wings had shocked her into speechlessness when they’d first appeared. It had almost been too much, that shock on top of the fear of fleeing Dark Core and the unreal feeling of bringing Justin home. Justin hadn’t been the only one in too much shock to do anything that day. Liv had just sat there in the stableyard for hours, petting Crush’s nose and trying to come to terms with everything that had happened.

She’d felt like that after Pandoria, too. And, just like then, she’d sat quietly with her horse afterwards, the horse that the druids had told her was so important. Finally, she could feel it. She could feel that bond, when her mind finally quietened after the roaring, whirling rush of adventure and stress. Now, whenever she was stressed, whenever it all became too much, Crush was her anchor, calming her down and keeping her sane. After all the craziness that had happened, she needed someone to keep her sane.

Liv had been so deep in thought that she’d barely paid attention to where they were going. And now, she looked up to find that Crush was trotting along a beach, the Eastern Slopes on one side and Moorland approaching along the opposite shore. She grinned, her heart swelling. Jorvik City may be her home, yes, but… Moorland was where this whole crazy adventure had begun. Where she’d gone to Moorland for the summer camp, hoping to get the work experience needed to attend the Jorvik Equine Institue, and she’d been introduced to Wolfcrush, an unassuming dapple grey Jorvik Warmblood.

“You’re right, here seems like a good place,” said Liv as Crush came to a stop further along the beach, shaded beneath some trees. Liv dismounted, trusting that Crush wouldn’t wander too far, and withdrew her cake from the saddlebag that her horse wore. Smiling, Liv made herself comfortable as she looked across at the place where it had all began. And, as she ate her cake, she let the memories wash over her. So much had happened, both good and bad, but she wouldn’t change it for the world. After all, if none of this had happened, she never would have met Wolfcrush, the horse who was bonded to her in a way that nobody and nothing else ever could be. An old horse truly could learn new tricks.


End file.
